Locker Room Rewrite
by Princess Persephone
Summary: A rewrite of that scene in “Winning a Battle, Losing the War episode 3 when Alex is being a jerk and Meredith beats him up. DM


Locker Room Rewrite

Summary: A rewrite of that scene in **"Winning a Battle, Losing the War"** (episode 3) when Alex is being a jerk and Meredith beats him up. D/M

A/N: Yeah…just a little thing that's been in my mind for awhile. Don't really know if Derek is a resident or attending…someone tell me if I got it wrong, yeah? And I know absolutely nothing about adrenaline, so….I had to tape this when it was on as a rerun to get the dialogue, so be happy!

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Meredith slammed her locker open, frustration present in every quick, terse movement of her body. She grabbed her clothes, angrily setting them down on a bench and started to sloppily pull off her scrubs.

The day had not been going well.

1. The bike messengers of the city, seemingly not crazy enough, had a dangerous, swerving through traffic, skinned knees and bloody noses, utterly insane race through town. Dozens of patients lined the halls of the ER, all of them scantily clad, muscular young men determined to get back out on their bikes.

2. She had been caught kissing one of said crazy bike messengers (strangely, a Seattler with a British accent); and not even by her boss, but by her boss's boss: Dr. Derek Shepherd, a man she had had sex with not too long ago—

3. and he, being the territorial male that he was, had immediately gone in for the kill. Again. He just couldn't forget that night—which was all it was meant to be: a one night stand (no matter that she, like him, couldn't seem to stop thinking about it). There was, of course, that little (okay, short, but hot and steamy) kiss in the elevator last week, but what's a girl to do? He was an attending for Christ's sake, and she was the bottom of the OR medical food chain: an intern.

Meredith shook her head, leaning down to pull on her shoes.

4. Stupid _stupid_ Alex had stolen her (well, technically her, Kristina, Izzy, and George's) open-heart surgery patient. She didn't know how that imbecile had ever gotten into med school in the first place. He was lazy and unorganized, slunk around the OR like an eel searching for easy prey (women) to take advantage of or others who'd make him look good, _and_ he was as annoying as hell.

Just as she was convinced her day couldn't get any worse, the very person in her thoughts materialized out of thin air and opened to door to the locker room, invading the only peaceful solitude she'd had all day. Meredith stifled a groan as Alex clicked open his locker, a smug, self-satisfied smirk on his insufferable face.

"God I smell good!" he proclaimed loftily, grinning at her. "You know what it is? It's the smell of open-heart surgery." He breathed in deeply, spreading his arms wide. "It's awesome. It is _awesome_. You gotta smell me."

Meredith tried not to snort and, keeping her back turned, continued to pack away her used scrubs. God! Could he be any more outrageous? He'd just stolen her patient, she was having an all out crappy day, and he decided to stuff it all in her face? She struggled to hide her indignation as she replied, a bit harshly, "I don't want to smell you."

She felt him suddenly, right behind her, his hot breath on her neck, one of his hands resting on her hip. "Oh, yes you do," he said, his face buried in her hair.

With that she turned around, backing him up with her shoulder. "You have got to be kidding me!" She grabbed the neck of his shirt and steered him until he slammed his back against the row of opposite lockers. All the stress and frustration of the whole day was being released in this one moment.

"Okay," she said, glaring at him. "I have more important things to deal with, than you. I have roommates, and boy problems, and family problems. You want to act like a little frat boy bitch, that's fine." He yawned, feinting disinterest, but continued grinning at her, a triumphant, if somewhat fearful look in his eyes. "You want to take credit for your saves _and_ everybody else's, that's fine too. Just stay out of my face."

So wrapped up in this was she, that Meredith didn't even notice the door opening.

He turned his head away, pretending to be bored by her little speech, but she grabbed his chin and made him look at her, her eyes burning with acrimony. "And for the record, you smell like crap!"

It was then that she realized that they weren't the only two in the room. Fuming, Meredith let go of Alex's shirt and turned back to her open locker, glimpsing a partly confused, partly (jealous!), and partly authoritative Dr. Derek Shepherd standing in the doorway. Still shaking from her anger, Meredith tried to appear normal as she continued fiddling with the contents of her locker. God, it just couldn't get any worse, could it? Not only was she denied the satisfaction of venting her frustrations on Alex Karev, a first rate prick who deserved it, it had to be Derek who witnessed this horribly unusual behavior in her.

Behind her, Alex shook his head, straightening his shirt. He turned to Dr. Shepherd.

"She attacked me."

Meredith nearly tripped, she turned around so fast, seeing red. How dare he? She had almost reached him when Derek caught her in his arms, forcing her away from her intended target and back to her locker.

"Meredith, Meredith," he said softly, holding her in his arms, trying to calm her down. She was like a caged lioness, or a can of soda that had been shaken too hard and then opened. "Meredith…"

After setting her back on her feet, Derek turned back around, grabbing the shirtsleeve of the satisfied-with-himself Alex.

"You know, you might want to leave," he said curtly, "before I decide to let her beat you to a pulp with her tiny ineffectual fists."

And with that the door clicked shut and they were alone. Meredith turned back to her locker, panting slightly and feeling the hot beam of his searing gaze on her. He was making her blush, goddamnit! Why didn't he say something? She glanced up, then back down, unable to meet his eyes. He's just caught her in a rare moment of no self control, in which her angry instincts had caught up with her and forced her to behave impulsively. Meredith swallowed, the heaviness of the air making it difficult to breathe—or was it his presence?

Derek took a step forward, still uncertain if she'd calmed down. His heart was thumping and he was still slightly shocked by what had just transpired. He'd never seen her like that before. He took another step forward. She was staring at him in a way that he couldn't read. But it warmed his whole body up and he was suddenly very conscious of the fact that she was half dressed, having been interrupted by Alex in the process of changing from her scrubs into her normal clothes. He was a little surprised to feel jealousy well up in him at the thought of Alex and Meredith…he almost shuddered at the thought and was almost overcome by the yearning to know what had happened previously to make Meredith rush at Alex like that.

"What?" He wasn't sure who had said it, be it him or her.

Their eyes met and the electricity in the room was almost tangible—like that night at the bar, only even more so this time, perhaps because he knew what lay under that blue camisole and those jeans…

She watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, almost audibly.

"That has to be the hottest thing I've ever seen," he said, breaking the silence.

Meredith blushed, not sure how to take this. It was one thing to tease her during her shift, especially when random messenger-bikers kissed her in the middle of the ER, but this was different. It was…he was…hot.

Closing her locker, Meredith grabbed her bag and stepped towards the door, aware of Derek stepping out towards her, blocking her path so that they met in the middle of the room. Their eyes locked and Meredith could hardly breathe. All that adrenaline that had rushed to the surface when she had yelled at Alex was now rapidly quickening her heartbeat and she couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

Without speaking, knowing exactly what the other one wanted, Derek bent his head and Meredith lifted her face and their lips met. It wasn't as rushed or steamy as the kiss in the elevator had been, but it still melted all of Meredith's insides so that she was almost certain she'd never be able to donate any of her organs.

Derek's arms encircled her waist, bringing her up closer to him, his mouth persuading hers to open and his tongue doing wonders against hers. She gasped as one of his hands crept up and steadied the back of her neck, adjusting her head so that the kiss deepened. Meredith's arms slowly snaked around his neck and they started kissing in earnest, not being able to get enough of the other. This is what she'd wanted—what she'd needed—all day long.

As he pushed her up against a locker, Meredith reluctantly broke away, breathing heavily. What if someone walked in on them?

"Derek," she said.

He looked at her, his eyes soft and full of emotion that she couldn't read. After a few moments, he nodded and dropped his arms from around her.

Meredith searched his face.

"You know, I'm still not going out with you."

His eyes bored into hers and she blushed, suddenly wishing she could take it back.

"Not yet," he said.


End file.
